Nooks & Crannies Now on Display at TIA

For Immediate Release: October 13, 2010

Nooks & Crannies Now on Display at TIA

Nooks & Crannies, paintings by Barbara Cowlin and graphite drawings by Rhod Lauffer, are now on display in the Tucson International Airport Lower Link Gallery located near American Airlines bag belt #7 through December 10, 2010.

Nooks and Crannies is a reference to small and out of the way locations in a room or on an object. It describes the detail of an object and is often used to refer to those "hard to reach" locations.

The Nooks and Crannies series is the result of three years work, explained Barbara Cowlin. "I am inspired by inconspicuous places in public spaces. These special yet overlooked places have an inner glow, a strange and ethereal quality that I am moved to bring out in my work," she said. "I am most intrigued by spaces with an air of mystery, with a sense that there is a story to be told perhaps as much by what is missing as by what is visible. Juxtaposition of unexpected colors, textures and shapes in a limited space challenge me to bring the overlooked into view. Turning a corner and seeing a vision that is as beautiful as it is unexpected takes my breath away."

Mr. Lauffer's work consists of a series of composite drawings of the airport drawn from photos taken while on a field trip outing. "Matching the images and making them believable was the real challenge," he said. "When drawing in my studio I'm not under time constraints and I can make the drawings any size I wanted. The larger ones here are rather small compared to some of my drawings."

Also included in the exhibit are two of his earlier graphite drawings drawn on location, which took hours to complete. One drawn on an airplane was finished in the studio from detail sketch notes of the carpet. "If the flight had been to Europe and not Boston I could have finished it on the plane."

Lauffer's drawing at Tucson Museum of Art was completed after about a month of just a few hours of drawing a day. "I worked at TMA for eleven years and it was there I started my drawings of nooks and crannies," he said.